Larry Monroe Reels Condition Survey
The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History recently accepted a collection of audio materials from well-known Austin deejay Larry Monroe. For the Introduction to Audio Preservation class, I performed a condition survey of the reel to reel magnetic media included in the collection. To see the full report, please click here.
Although most of the reels in the collection had a polyester tape base, there were a few reels that had a mix of acetate and polyester tapes.
One of the main problems found in the collection, step packing occurs when either the tape is improperly wound on the reel, or stored in an area that undergoes fluctuations of temperature and humidity. Given that Larry Monroe lived in Austin, Texas, it is not surprising that reels in the collection show signs of step packing and popped strands.
White powder is often indicative of binder hydrolysis, wherein the binder material that holds the magnetic media to the tape base absorbs moisture and the polyurethane molecules in the binder break down into smaller molecules which then exude from the binder. This can create a white powder on the tape and might indicate that the tape will suffer from sticky shed syndrome.
